Bengals playoff drought is over
‘This is expected,’ QB Burrow says
CINCINNATI — Paul BrownStadium nearly shook in triumph. The city of Cincinnatimight have, too.
Its latest hero, Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, merely seemed to shrug after leading his team to its first playoff victory in 31 years, 26-19 over Las Vegas Saturday in an AFC wildcard game.
“It’s exciting for the city, for the state, but we are not going to dwell on that, we are moving forward,” said Burrow, who threw two touchdown passes. “This is expected, this isn’t like the icing on top of the cake, this is the cake. So we are moving on.”
Burrow led an efficient offense that scored on six drives, Evan McPherson became the first rookie to make four field goals without a miss in a postseason debut, and Germaine Pratt sealed it with a fourth-down interception in the dying seconds.
It was a victory three decades in the making for the Bengals (11-7). After going from worst to first in the AFC North Division with a generally young roster, they ended that embarrassingly long postseason drought that included eight consecutive defeats.
“Who Dey” indeed. Coach Zac Taylor said game balls were going to team owner Mike Brown and to the city itself.
“Some of them might not understand the significance of what happened today,” he said of his players. “The city can finally enjoy ... this team and take the pressure off of the last 31 years. Today was significant for a lot of people.”
The Bengals’ next opponent will depend on results in the other two AFC wildcard games this weekend.
“It’s going to be fun tomorrow to watch the games
said Burrow, the top overall selection in the 2020 draft who led the NFL in completion percentage this season. He went 24 for 34 for 244 yards Saturday.
Helped by some problematic officiating by Jerome Boger’s crew that might have allowed Burrow’s touchdown pass to Tyler Boyd to countwhen it shouldn’t have, the Bengals also extended a lengthy postseason drought for the Raiders (10-8). Las Vegas, which won its final four games to squeeze into the playoffs, previously won in the postseason in the 2002 AFCchampionship.
Cincinnati made it 4 for 4 on scoring drives late in the first half, though with some controversy. Burrow rolled right to avoid pressure and threw from close to the sideline. Play continued despite an erroneous whistle by an official, who thought Burrow stepped out of bounds. Boyd caught the 10-yard pass in the back of the end zone for a 20-6 lead. The play counted, to protests from the Raiders, who cited the rule that the ball should be returned to the previous spot.
And Las Vegas lost by sevenpoints.
“We just ran out of time today,” said interim coach Rich Bisaccia. “We did some uncharacteristic things with some penalties and gave up some drives and didn’t capitalize when we had it in the
didn’t go our way today.”
The crowd of 66,277 fans hungry for some playoff gold had to hold their breath. Pratt made sure they could exhale.